robsamui

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Suwat said that the RTP know the identity of the assassins and are preparing the paperwork to have them arrested abroad and brought back to Thailand. 

 

Amusing at best. When you have a highly corrupt and spectacularly ineffective police department that is protected at the highest levels, and you regularly break many aspects of treaties, in addition to being a nation that barely respects the rules of democracy, and you then approach an organization like Interpol, they likely will have a chuckle, and move on with their important business.

 

Nobody takes Thailand seriously these days. They have opted out of being relevant. 

"Nobody takes Thailand seriously these days. They have opted out of being relevant." 

Well the Covid farce has sealed their fate with a vengeance - the slapdash perception that Covid is just 'flu; the 6 month wait for it all to go away before eventually being forced to vaccinate their people; the flounder to make a fast buck with the initial Sinovac stocks; the reluctance to spend money on test ATK kits; no mass testing; ridiculously- expensive private Covid tests; blatantly unrealistic infection statistics; price-gouged tourist trapping with extortionate Thai-Govt-forced insurance-and-ASQ-packages; the blatant kick-backs with private hospitals charging extortionate fees; the continual arrogant statements that "everything's under control"; the officious and self-important complexity of the immigration regulations; the ongoing dithering and mind-changing and backtracking with entry rules and quarantine regulations that are changed weekly with no regard for the disruption and money this is causing to incoming 'tourists, and the obvious lack of understanding that incoming westerners can't just pack and travel at the drop of a hat . . . 

 . . . not to mention the farcical nature of a corrupt police force with virtually no training that doesn't actually police anything and doesn't understand what 'policing' means . . . 

Thailand has always managed to do all these sorts of things quietly, in the past, without attracting too much attention, and has subsequently developed a distorted sense of its own importance and worth.

But standing up and broadcasting its dithering incompetence on the world stage via social media and the international Press has now guaranteed that nobody, absolutely nobody, takes Thailand seriously any more.

2 hours ago, mran66 said:

This case maybe an extreme, but when reading/watching stories about crimes involving various levels of violence I often wondered why that type of behaviour seems to be more prevalent here than at least in Europe. I mean various attacks/fights with different levels of damage, seemingly very emotion-driven. Mostly men, often more than one on one side.

Sure people fight and kill everywhere, just seems more here - or is it just because of media and farang observations of these strange behaviours?

 

Or is there something genetic in Thai that inhibits normal development brain/psyche to control negative emotions, or is it just the culture i.e learned behaviour observing the society from childhood? 

 

Not really familiar with details of psychology and which part of brain is not normally developed to cause this behaviour, just wondering.

No matter what age they get to, Thai people never seem to psychologically and emotionally get past what Westerners think of as teenagers. They are emotional and petulant, with all their feelings close to the surface and ready to break out. They are overly sensitive to rejection or perceived insults, and being made to feel foolish or appear in the wrong is mortifying for them. Fits of the sulks, or uncontrollable anger, are common.

The other side of the coin is that they are also warm, loving and deeply affectionate and usually kind, generous, open-hearted, sympathetic and hospitable . . . delightfully so.

To interact with Thais in their society and culture needs a different kind of understanding and perception - it is easy to unwittingly upset a Thai. It is equally easy to gain their affection, respect, and even love. 

But you won't do that by blindly or insensitively responding to them as if they're the usual 'Western' adults you're accustomed to. They're not. 

And you need to constantly keep that in your mind, whether you're visiting or living in Thailand, or writing comments about Thainess from abroad.

What is a "pub-like" restaurant? 
The only restaurant I know of, that's like a pub, is a pub.
Is someone struggling to express the idea of an 'enclosed' restaurant, or an 'indoors' restaurant?
If so, why don't they just say so? Why bring pubs into it?

3 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

seems a bit mute considering more will die driving home than of covid !

a bit mute?

4 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

What a frigging self made mess. If insurance companies don't pay for Green cases then the insurance is useless and that should have been identified before regulations for sandbox or test and go were ever implemented.

Well Thailand right now is in a mess and desperate, just like a bunch of kids finding out the candy shop is closed. They'll say and do anything and make all kinds of promises - no matter how nonsensical or irrational - just to get their hands on the sweeties.

Well I'm voting for someone much more intelligent!

46 minutes ago, bluemoon58 said:

How the <deleted> does this man keep his job...??? 

He's the  long-time chum of a Very Important Person indeed.

2 hours ago, CRUNCHER said:

There is a saying that goes that when people think you are a fool it is best to keep your mouth shut and keep the guessing rather than open it and remove all doubt.

There's a similar saying . . . "sometimes people are sooooo stupid that they don't know just how stupid they are and think they're normal."

Take your pick of which one applies to this bombastic self-aggrandizing braggart.

2 hours ago, SunsetT said:

Just take it away from Immigration completely. They just love to make their tasks more and more time consuming in order to puff up their egos and to justify their existence. Just observe the endless, mindless and repeated checking of the wads of paperwork still being shuffled around at immigration when extending visas, etc.

hmmm . . . did you ever wonder what happens to those millions of little white cards (TM6) that people have to fill in when they enter Thailand? Are they neatly filed away in some vast and special Thai card index somewhere, fiercely guarded my immigration stormtroopers? Are they carefully entered into a national computer database for reference, or logged into a custom-made special government app (which never works)?

Next time you fly take a look in the bin under the airport immigration counter. 

Old Chinese proverb - "When the boat is on fire, worms of despair crawl out from the wood".

Judging from the record number of evasions, contradictions, inconsistencies and just plain idiotic statements that have been uttered by Thai government representatives this year, the boat of Thailand must be already well-ablaze.

3 hours ago, Longwood50 said:

Whether in person, in writing, or online, what the heck does the 90 day report serve to accomplish?  I could be living at a totally different address then the one shown to immigration.  Does it mean I am still in Thailand?  Heck, passport records show that I have not left the country. 

The is a mandate in search of a need. 

It makes Immigration feel Grand and Self-important. More importantly, it empowers them in their continual search for better and more complicated mazes for the foreign hamsters to run around in.

Looks like they might have slipped up this time, though - their APP (eek shriek shudder) appears to be working (mmmm?). Better make the most of it - they'll no doubt realise soon enough and fix it back to normal so it doesn't work.

6 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

Dispatch a team to Stanford University. A small team of undergrads, from their English department even,  could have a great app finished by next weekend.

 

Offer some beer money and a paid  trip to Ko Phangan for New Year.

Why Why Why are govt apps always so buggy and useless?

Stanford university?
Stanford?
In America?
A team?!
A couple of students  over for the weekend from Singapore or Hong Kong would sort these buffoons out in no time at all.

2 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Congratulations, Mr Supharothatrangsi, on highlighting perhaps the biggest issue of Thai officialdom; UNNECESSARY RED TAPE!!!! It’s not incompetence and I’m not Thai bashing, I don’t even think it’s the goons’ plan in their effort to change the status quo’; it is some douchebag saying this is how it has to be and don’t question me, or too many cooks putting in to justify their job. Either way, Thailand loses huge amounts of money while it dithers. Children. 

I think it was back in the 19th century that Rudyard Kipling commented on small nations and their love of paperwork.

He said something like . . . "it is only immature and developing countries which think that excessive red tape and bureaucracy is a sign of an effective government. Mature nations don't have the same need to impress, and have learned that it is more effective to simplify such matters."

Kipling was talking about emerging nations back in Victorian times. But looking at the self-important flapping and strutting of the Thai government today, it's evident that Kipling was right.

What a bunch of utter idiots.